Dell Latitude 14" 5420 Black 2021

The Dell Latitude 5420 is a lightweight 14-inch business laptop with excellent ports, Thunderbolt 4, and enterprise features like vPro and a smart card reader. Its Core i7-1185G7 and 16GB of RAM handle office work fine, but the 250-nit display is dim and the integrated graphics can't game. Buy it only if you find a good deal and prioritize business connectivity over screen quality.

The Core i7-1185G7 is a capable 11th-gen quad-core chip, but it sits at the 26th percentile in our database, which means it's on the older side compared to newer 12th and 13th gen silicon. For everyday tasks like email, web browsing, and Office apps, you won't feel much lag. The 16GB of RAM helps keep things smooth when you've got 30 browser tabs open alongside a video call.

Storage performance is about average at the 52nd percentile. The 512GB NVMe SSD boots Windows 11 Pro quickly and loads apps without drama. The Iris Xe GPU lands at the 49th percentile, which is fine for video playback and light photo editing, but it's not built for anything demanding. Our gaming score for this machine is a rough 13.8 out of 100, so if you're wondering whether the Latitude 5420 can handle games, the answer is basically no, unless you're into solitaire or decade-old indie titles.

Stacked against the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 21KC00A8US, the Latitude 5420 holds its own on ports and business features, but the ThinkPad typically offers a brighter display and better build quality. The X1 Carbon is the more premium machine, and it usually costs more, but the gap in screen quality is noticeable if you work in bright environments.

The Apple MacBook Pro Core i7 2.6GHz is a different beast entirely. It's heavier, more powerful for creative work, and runs macOS, so it's not a direct swap for Windows-centric IT departments. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14-fm0013dx and ASUS Vivobook TP3407SA-DS74T are newer consumer-focused options with better displays and more modern CPUs, but they lack the vPro management and smart card reader that enterprise buyers often need. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 NP750XGK-KS2US is another solid alternative with a brighter screen and newer silicon, though its port selection isn't as generous as the Latitude's.

Value here depends entirely on which listing you find. The USD 237 to USD 1,012 spread across two US listings is wild, and the cheapest option is likely a used or refurbished unit. If you can snag this near the low end, it's a steal for a business laptop with Thunderbolt 4 and vPro. At the high end, you're paying too much for aging hardware. The CAD 1,209 and MXN 18,090 listings are single-vendor situations, so you don't have much room to shop around. For comparison, a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon or even a newer HP OmniBook X Flip will give you better screens and newer CPUs, though often at a higher price. If port selection and business management features matter more than display brightness, the Latitude 5420 can still make sense.

The Dell Latitude 5420 is a business-focused 14-inch laptop that lands in the mid-range price bracket, though pricing is all over the map right now. You'll see it listed anywhere from USD 237 to USD 1,012 depending on condition and seller. This particular config packs an Intel Core i7-1185G7, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD, which is a solid productivity setup for office work, spreadsheets, and video calls.

People searching for a reliable work laptop often ask whether the Latitude 5420 is good for everyday business use. The short answer is yes, mostly. It's built for IT departments and road warriors, with a fingerprint reader, smart card reader, Thunderbolt 4, and Intel vPro management baked in. The 1.40kg weight makes it easy to toss in a bag, and the port selection is genuinely excellent for a machine this size.

But the display is where things get dicey. A 250-nit IPS panel is dim by modern standards, and that's going to matter if you work near windows or travel a lot. The integrated Iris Xe graphics also mean this is not a gaming laptop, not even close. We'll dig into that below.

Skip the Latitude 5420 if you care about display quality, gaming, or creative work. The 250-nit screen and Iris Xe graphics will frustrate anyone editing photos, watching movies in bright rooms, or playing modern games. Students who need a versatile all-rounder should look at the ASUS Vivobook TP3407SA-DS74T or Samsung Galaxy Book4 NP750XGK-KS2US instead. And if you're buying for personal use rather than enterprise deployment, the vPro and smart card features are wasted on you, so you're paying for capabilities you'll never touch.

Should you buy the Dell Latitude 5420? If you're an IT manager deploying fleets or a business user who needs Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet, and vPro management, and you find it at the lower end of that USD 237 to USD 1,012 range, yes. It's a competent workhorse that won't win beauty contests but gets the job done.

If you're a student, a gamer, or anyone who cares about screen quality, look elsewhere. The dim 250-nit panel and weak integrated graphics are dealbreakers for those use cases. Our compact score of 63.8 out of 100 reflects its portability strengths, but the total score of 47 out of 100 tells the real story: this is a niche machine for specific business needs, not an all-rounder.